William B. Travis

William Barrett Travis (1 August 1809-6 March 1836) was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Texas Army during the Texas Revolution of 1836. Travis came to Texas from Alabama and agitated for the independence of the Republic of Texas, and he fought and died at the Battle of the Alamo.

Biography
William Barrett Travis was born on 1 August 1809 in Saluda County, South Carolina, United States. Travis studied law in Claiborne, Alabama and became a teacher, and he married a student of his in 1828. In 1829, he passed the bar examination and opened a law office, but he fell into debt.

In 1831, rather than be arrested and thrown in a debtors' prison, Travis decided to head to Texas and buy land there. He set up a law practice in Anahuac, and Travis would become a Texan nationalist, opposing Mexico's rule over the region. He was angry that twelve garrisons were set up to the north of the Rio Grande River to enforce Mexican military rule, and he was further angered by the imprisonment of several Texans without trial. In 1836, he founded his own militia to fight against the Mexican government, and he joined the defenders of the Alamo in San Antonio after the city was taken. Travis took command of the Texas Army regulars in the Alamo, and he became the commander of the whole garrison when James Bowie became ill. Travis died fighting against the Mexican Army when they stormed the Alamo on 6 March 1836.